


The Great Halloween Party of 2014

by illyalien



Category: Original Work, Our Hometown
Genre: F/M, and kissing but ehhh it's not that bad, uhh bumped up the rating b/c of language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 15:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15003500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illyalien/pseuds/illyalien
Summary: At a Halloween party thrown together for some much needed friend bonding time, Erica learns that she is really bad at expressing any kind of feelings towards those she cares about.Set a year after the events of Our Hometown, so naturally there are spoilers for the original story.  Canon-ish.





	The Great Halloween Party of 2014

Late Autumn, early winter was Erica’s favorite time of year.  She didn’t have the stress of her birthday anymore, and finally, _finally_ , she was starting to get back into school.

It didn’t stop any of her friends (god, it was always weird to think of them like that) from planning a Halloween party.  They said it was a late birthday party for Journey, or an extra early one for Mallory, but Erica knew they just wanted everyone to hang out again, outside of school.  They didn’t get much time anymore.

So Erica entertained them.  Faith told her it was just a get-together, but then Lennon convinced her to make it a costume party.  So that was how Erica ended up at the post office, waiting for the arrival of the single-handedly worst package of her life.  Sometimes, it wasn’t great being an evil genius.

The man at the front desk handed it to her, and she nodded to him, glancing down at his name tag.  Oh. It was Mallory’s uncle, Craig. She didn’t introduce herself, but smiled at him anyways. It must have been one of her patented Erica smiles, though, because he didn’t return it.

 

When she got home, Erica laid on the floor of her bedroom for a while, just looking at what she had ordered.  God it was a bad idea. A really bad idea.

When her mom came in for the first time that day with her dinner, the tiny woman couldn’t help but stare at the mess Erica had made.

“Is this…?” Molly started, but trailed off before shaking her head and setting the plate down on Erica’s desk.

“It’s for Faith’s costume party this weekend.” Erica shrugged.  She sat up from where she had been laying down, and crawled over to her desk, grabbing the plate.  She looked up at her mom, who had taken a seat in Erica’s desk chair.

“A little last minute, wouldn’t you say?” Molly asked, and Erica shrugged again.  “Did you finish your homework and everything before starting this little project?”

Erica nodded, and took a bite of spaghetti.  Molly gave her daughter a look that Erica couldn’t quite identify.

“Will there be _boys_ there?” Molly asked, leaning forward in the chair, levelling with her daughter’s glare.

“I mean,” Erica started, swallowing, “Faith’s boyfriend, and Ryland, but besides that… No?”

Molly nodded, and looked around the room once more.  “What are you going as?”

Erica felt her ears go pink as she tried to find the way to word it correctly.  She set the plate down in her lap, and turned to look at the pile of clothing she had sorted out.

“I was thinking of going as Wednesday Addams,” Erica said flatly, and turned back to her mom.  Molly nodded, and stood from the chair. She was hardly taller than Erica, even when she was sitting down on the floor.  Her mother smiled, and left, not before looking back to say something very quietly.

“I think it’s a great idea, sweetheart,” Molly said, before blowing her a kiss and closing the door softly.  Erica smiled, and finished eating, before setting the plate down on her desk and going back to find _the_ black dress.

She already knew that she could just braid her hair herself, but then came the issue of a _her_ dressing up as Wednesday Addams.  She knew that her friends wouldn’t judge her, but it still made Erica hesitate when she had ordered the collar and shoes online.  It was a good idea, really, but Erica supposed even she wasn’t quite ready for all the easy jokes.

Ryland had already made quite a few, and didn’t stop for weeks after they had first watched the Addams Family movie.  They tried watching the show, but Ryland kept saying that Erica was ‘just short enough to play Wednesday as a kid’, before Erica reminded him that she’s only a half-inch shorter than him.  Then came the jokes about their parallel personalities, which really got Erica into a fit.

It was a little on-the-nose, and maybe an inside joke between just them wasn’t the best Halloween costume, but Erica reminded herself that it was a classic.  Just like her. She tried to smile, before remembering that she didn’t have a black dress. Out of everything that she owned, not a single black dress. She gave up around nine, and went to wash her dishes.  

As Erica was drying her plate, Vinnie came bolting into the kitchen.  Erica stifled a laugh when he inevitably fell, careful to not wake her mother up, but still smiling broadly as her brother struggled to get up.

Vinnie gave her a cold glare, but came over to the sink to help her, bumping her hip as they talked quietly.

“So,” he started, “how’s your boyfriend?”

Erica didn’t give him a reaction.  “I’m not dating anyone, Vinnie.”

“No, I know.  But how _is_ Ryland?  We never see him around anymore.”

She shrugged, and took a glass when he passed it to her to dry.  “He’s fine. Failing his math class, but fine.”

Vinnie shook his head, laughing.  “He’s going to die in college.”

“He’ll do fine,” Erica said, though she knew she was trying to convince herself as much as him.  Vinnie raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“I’m pretty sure the second you leave for Harvard, he’s going to combust.”

She rolled her eyes at that, bumping his hip back.  Vinnie laughed, and splashed her with a bit of water.  She knew better than to retaliate, but this kid had it coming.  She looked to the hallway, where her other brothers were _supposedly_ fast asleep, then turned the faucet on, covering it with her thumb so that it sprayed Vinnie.

The boy let out a sharp hiss, and a loud laugh, before covering his mouth to smother it.  Erica decided to get out of there before either of them get lectured, and hurried to her bedroom, waving good-night to Vinnie.

 

On Friday, Erica came to school in a pair of black jeans, and a plain black shirt.  The collar she had ordered was pinned beneath it, and her hair was in braids. She didn’t look the bus driver in the eye when she got on, and sat as far away from the rest of the passengers as possible, not daring to look any of them in the eye.  It wasn’t that embarrassing, but it was damn close.

She got to school and started for the club classroom, before being stopped by a bright face that she had been anticipating.

A brightly-colored space alien greeted her, and immediately Erica’s eyes flew to the glitter around Juliet’s eyes, and the white go-go boots, and the _everything_.  Erica was sure that something there was not up to dress code, but didn’t ask.  Her hair was up in two buns, and Juliet’s smile broke out when she saw Erica.

Juliet looked her up and down, and Erica stepped back so that the artist could admire her work.  She took a few steps around, whistling when she examined the braids, and finally gave Erica a nod.

“I like the modern rendition,” Juliet commented.  “I’m a tad disappointed you didn’t go for the classic dress, though.”

Erica’s shoulder’s sagged.  “Surprisingly, I don’t own any plain black dresses.  I don’t own _any_ dresses besides the one for homecoming last year.”

Juliet smirked, tilting her head as if recalling the night, but looked back to Erica and her face fell flat.

“Well?” Juliet gave her a spin, and Erica noticed that the skirt Jules had on was see-through to galaxy print leggings.  Her eyebrows shot up, and Juliet’s eyes met hers with electricity crackling in the air between them.

A moment passed, and Juliet furrowed her brow.  She looked Erica over one last time, and smiled wide at nothing.  Or something, but Erica just didn’t know yet. She nodded, and started to walk to the bus circle, before turning back quickly.

“Oh, and Ryland asked me for a ride to Faith’s house tomorrow,” Juliet said.  “You wanna come with?”

Erica nodded, and smiled as Juliet finger-gunned her before swivelling on her heel and walking away.

The classroom was empty, as always, but Erica noticed the three Party City bags on one of the tables, as well as a Spirit bag that Erica _knew_ came from out of town.  Aschport would be so lucky as to have a Spirit store, let alone a Party City.  The one that she could think of was close to Newport, and she knew it was haunted.  She restrained herself from snooping, instead flicking on the lights, and thanking every and any all-powerful being that they had a heater in the clubroom.

She sat down against the wall, and propped up a book on her legs, pulling them close to her chest as she started to read.  The hum of the heater, combined with the absolute silence in the clubroom was comforting. Until it wasn’t, and Erica frowned.  Someone should be in here already, wearing some ridiculous costume. She would have taken anyone, even Lennon, right then, to break that silence.  But no one came, and Erica walked to class alone.

 

Erica stood outside her house, backpack slung over her shoulder like she was going somewhere.  She was, but not for another fifteen minutes. Juliet always arrived a little early, though, and Erica didn’t want to have to scramble out of the house in order to make it.

She hadn’t gotten to see anyone else’s costume on Friday, besides Sam’s, who stepped out of the bathroom at exactly the wrong moment for Erica to see the S-Shield on her chest, and her hair tied back to reveal she had done her makeup for the first time since Erica had known her.  Her eyelids were a rosy pink, and her lips tinted just a little darker brown. She opened her mouth to say something, but Sam walked away pretty fast. Erica didn’t blame her, not even a little bit.

But there was something about everyone seeing her costume, and her only seeing two out of ten that made her face red with anger.  Or embarrassment, but again, she didn’t know yet. She waited another eight minutes before the headlights of Juliet’s car flooded the street.  

The car pulled up, and Erica went to open the backseat, as it opened for her.  She’d have thought it was magic, before realizing that Ryland had taken up the backseat.  She rolled her eyes, and took the seat beside him. Beatrice and Juliet were in the front, talking about a show that they had been watching together.  Neither of them broke the conversation, and didn’t seem to notice Erica had even gotten into the car. As Juliet turned onto Pinecreek Road, Ryland turned his head to look at her.

“They’ve been like this since we picked Beatrice up,” he said simply, smiling at her.  Erica felt her heart jump. That shouldn't happen. They weren’t even dating, not after that embarrassing confession and the dance… But Erica supposed that was why she felt like someone had force-fed her butterflies, which were slowly becoming bats in the cavern of her stomach.  She looked away from him, and frowned.

He was dressed like an evil scientist, like he did in elementary school two years in a row.  She had thought it was cool then, but he didn’t even bother putting on a wig this time. He just had a dirty face and goggles rested atop his head, and black gloves and a lab coat and-- Erica wasn’t even looking at him anymore but felt her face go unbearably hot.  She wasn’t staring, and even if she was, it was in a friendly way. A friendly, completely platonic way. She let herself believe that, at least for the rest of the car ride.

 

It always took Erica a little bit to realize just how _massive_ Faith’s house really was.  From all of the Instagram stories and photos, Erica knew it was big.  Really big. And she’d seen it from the satellite on Google maps, but this was up close.  It was too big for a town like Aschport.

Ryland and Erica fell behind after the car parked, and Juliet and Beatrice walked hand-in-hand up to the front door.  Ryland had stuffed his hands in his pockets, and Erica awkwardly clasped them in front of her. It wasn’t as if she _wanted_ to hold his hand.  She knew he had cold-but-simultaneously-warm-clammy hands and had _no_ interest getting involved with that.  Still.

Faith opened the door, and Erica tried not to roll her eyes at the cliche.  Her nose was painted pink, and she was dressed in black cat ears and a tail, but besides that, just regular Faith clothes.  She was trying, for Lennon at least.

As they walked into the foyer, they all hugged for what felt like forever, because by the time Erica made it to the Ballard’s kitchen, the doorbell rang again.  Faith told them it was probably trick-or-treaters, and took a bowl of candy off of the counter to go check. Sure enough, the collective sound of high-pitched voices travelled across the house, into the kitchen, where Erica was leaning against the counter, sipping soda from a way-too-expensive glass.

Juliet and Beatrice had gone to the living room, where Faith promised to queue up some Halloween movies, but not before they all took turns with the trick-or-treaters.  Ryland volunteered to try and scare them, to which Faith wrinkled her nose.

“You’d probably scare them out of costume too, Hayes,” she teased, and it didn’t sound as mean as it was probably intended to.  Ryland grinned, and pushed back his mop of black hair again.

“C’mon, I’m scary!” Ryland poked Erica’s arm.  “Tell her, Eri.”

She looked up from her soda to see Faith crossing her arms with an annoyed look on her face, and Ryland grinning at her.  Erica shrugged.

“To be honest, you’re both pretty terrifying,” Erica muttered flatly, looking between the two.  “I’m surprised the kids haven’t run away screaming yet when you answer the door, Faith.”

The hostess scowled at Erica, but reached up to play with her braids.  Her face softened, and she looked at Erica to mouth, “Nice hair.”

Erica raised an eyebrow and gestured to Faith’s curled ringlets.  “You too,” she mouthed back. Faith smiled, and looked between Erica and Ryland before shaking her head and walking off.  She was sure she heard her mutter something about kids and love, but Erica blamed it on poor hearing. She pushed the ghost of her glasses up on her nose, realizing she was wearing contacts too late.  Ryland didn’t notice, but he still looked at her suddenly, smiling like an idiot.

“Okay,  now you look really scary,” Erica said.  Ryland rolled his eyes, and held out his hand, like he had that night, when everything was dark, and all that she could see was the glow of the neon lights behind him and he had asked her to dance…

She snapped out of it in time to grab his hand, and he led her to the living room.  She was only glad that it looked alot more like a toddler leading around his friend who didn’t want to be there, then Ryland leading around Erica, who only wanted to be there.  They stopped behind the couch, which was big enough to fit the entire soccer team, and he jumped over, finally letting go of her hand, and landing right beside Autumn and Sam. The two looked up from Autumn’s phone and smiled, looking up as if they expected to see his shadow.  They smiled at Erica too, but turned back to the phone quickly.

Ryland patted the cushion beside him, and Erica walked over to him.  She looked around the living room, and looked to Faith. “Who are we missing?”

“Journey and Evelyn are getting more candy and some snacks, and Mallory is on her way,” Faith said.  She was fiddling with the remote, as if distracting herself from the situation. The situation being that Lennon was laying across her lap, and kept looking at his sister as if he was her keeper.  Erica nodded, and looked to Ryland, whose demeanor changed in all of ten seconds.

She didn’t bother to nudge him, ask him what was wrong.  She put her hands in her lap, and looked at the TV screen in front of them, which, like most everything else in this house, was massive.

“Where’s your family at?” Erica asked Faith, who looked up.  The girl quirked her mouth to the side and her eyes seemed to shine for a second.

“My brothers are out of town for the weekend, and my dad is in Vancouver for the rest of the year.”  Faith seemed pretty jazzed about it, and smiled brightly. Lennon seemed to notice too, because a long, brown finger rose up and poked her nose.  She laughed, and tickled his ribs. Erica was glad the rest of the family was gone, because Lennon yowled, echoing across the house. Beatrice and Juliet looked up, and shook their heads at the two.  Jules met Erica’s eyes for a moment, before going back to talking to Bea. The girls had decidedly gone with a space-theme. Beatrice’s hijab was covered in stars, and she seemed to be dressed like an astronaut.  Erica wouldn’t deny that it was cute, because it _was_.

She noticed that the only other pair that was matching costumes was Sam and Autumn, who were superheros.  Sam was Supergirl, and Autumn was Batgirl. She had already heard Sam gush about how Batgirl and Supergirl were _obviously_ in love, and Erica dropped her eyes down to her lap.  Very clever costumes, all of them.

Ryland poked Erica’s thigh, and she looked up at him.  She was decidedly slouching against the couch, and she could already hear a comment on her posture on the tip of his tongue, but his eyes were so _brown_ and for a moment, the room was quiet.  Bearably quiet, where all she could hear was the sound of her breath, and his breath, and her heart beating against her ribcage.  The moment passed, but she could still feel the space between them hardening like a barrier.

“What’s up?” she asked, trying to keep her voice flat.  He bit his lip slightly, and his eyes searched her face for god-knows-what, and then it came again.

The doorbell.

Erica pressed her lips together and stood up, saying, “I’ll get it.”

At the same time, Ryland looked to Faith and said, “My turn.”

They looked at each other, and both started walking to the door, Erica grabbing the bowl first, but Ryland wrapped his hands around it anyways.  She hated to avoid his touch, but she bounced out of the way, and started to jog towards the door. Ryland laughed, and started to chase after her, clearly forgetting that she’s faster than him.  As their laugher got louder, Erica heard Faith call from the other room, “Don’t drop that or I’ll kill you both!”

Erica got to the door first, but Ryland opened it for her.  They looked to each other, grinning, out of breath, when they heard the familiar impish laughter, and hushed scolding.

They both looked up, and Erica cursed under her breath.  Journey and Evelyn were standing outside, Safeway bags in both of their hands, but their arms were linked together.  Evelyn was carrying two, but Journey was looking very determined as she stepped inside with five. Erica started to offer her help, before Evelyn shot her a look that screamed, “Let me protect her pride.”

Erica smiled at the pair, and set down the bowl of candy.  She looked to Ryland, who was running a hand through his hair again.  His goggles were messed up, crooked on his hair, which couldn’t have been comfortable.  Out of habit, she reached up to fix it, and when she snapped out of it, she realized how close they were now, their breaths mingling between them.  She stepped back, and apologized.

“It’s okay,” Ryland mumbled.  She thought he would be upset, but he was smiling.  Erica knew it was a fluke, but smiled back. She didn’t do anything when she realized his collar was crooked, too.

 

They spent the next hour and a half in the living room, and after Mallory arrived, they watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, while Juliet and Evelyn argued over whether or not it was a Halloween or Christmas movie.  Erica tuned them out, but couldn’t focus on the movie either because at some point, Ryland had rested his head on her shoulder. Not to fall asleep, because he was still talking to Jules, just with his head on Erica’s shoulder.  It wasn’t exceptionally weird, Jules and Erica had done it countless times at sleepovers, once a movie got to long or when their head got to heavy. The weight on her shoulder was comforting in a way, but she didn’t move. She didn’t want to mess it up.

So when the movie ended, and Faith was starting to ask what to watch next, Erica just looked down at her phone, and started to text her mom.  Molly wasn’t _worried_ , just curious.  Always curious. And her brothers were trying to Facetime her, which she didn’t pick up, obviously.

Her breath hitched when Ryland lifted his head from her shoulder, and she wondered what she did wrong.  Nothing, she decided. She had done nothing wrong. Still, her thoughts pestered her until all she could think about was the absence of his weight.

“Earth to Erica?” A pair of manicured fingers snapped in front of her face, and Erica jumped.  A series of chuckles followed, and Erica looked up to see Faith. They were almost eye-level, for once.  The hostess put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, like she was talking to a child.

“Do you two dorks want to watch Carrie or Rosemary’s Child?”

Ryland shrugged, and looked to Erica.  “Whatever Eri wants, I guess.”

She didn’t have time to chastise him for how cheesy that sounded.  Erica frowned and said, “Carrie, but only if it’s the old one.”

Faith rolled her eyes, once again muttering something under her breath, this time about film snobs.  But Erica caught Faith glancing back at her, and the ghost of a smile on the redhead’s face. The hostess turned to the rest of the guests and announced that they would be watching Carrie.  Juliet and Beatrice high-fived, whilst Lennon and Evelyn groaned.

“I swear, it’s like they're in cahoots,” Lennon grumbled as Faith turned on the movie and walked back to cuddle up against his chest.

Faith looked up at him, and said as loudly as she possibly could, “Lennon, they’re _lesbians_.”

Erica stifled a laugh, but couldn’t stop Ryland from giggling.  Jules looked to the two of them, and smirked.

“Birds of a feather gotta stick together, y’know?” Juliet sighed, wrapping an arm around Beatrice’s shoulder.  The other girl laughed, shifting to lift Jules onto her lap.

They watched Carrie, and by the time it was over, it was already too late for any more trick-or-treaters to be coming up to the neighborhood, and Sam and Journey already had to head back.

“They’re almost never in town, but when they are…” Journey scoffed. “They aren’t particularly easy on our curfews.”

They all hugged the the two, and Evelyn went with them.  Erica watched them all leave, and looked to her phone. No new messages, even though it was eleven.  On a weekend, but still.

Ryland looked to Juliet, and asked, “What time do you have to be back?”

Jules shrugged, “My dad’s pretty chill, but if your aunt is gonna kill you if you’re not home…?”

Ryland shook his head.  “Nah, Peony’s pretty chill about uh… curfew and stuff.”  He looked at Erica, who had rested her head against the arm of the couch.  She looked at him and frowned.

“My mom isn’t texting me back, but if you guys aren’t leaving yet, than neither am I.”

Faith scoffed from her side of the living room, and when they all looked over, she was holding up blankets.

“You can ask to stay over, if you want,” she said, tossing them all a blanket. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Juliet raised an eyebrow, and took the blanket gingerly in her hands, examining it.  “Is it _fur_?”

Faith shook her head.  “I’m not an _actual_ monster, Somer, calm down.”

She shrugged.  “Could have fooled me.”

A pillow soared across the room, and hit Juliet in the face.  Beatrice took it away before her girlfriend could retaliate against their host.

Erica texted her mom, saying she would spend the night.  She looked up and asked Faith where the bathroom was, and went to go take off her makeup and undo her hair.

She looked ridiculous, she realized, once she looked herself in the eyes.  Her makeup was smeared all around her mouth, black lipstick smudged from eating popcorn or skittles.  She took one of her makeup wipes from her bag, and took off at least half of it before there was a knock at the door.

“Occupied,” she replied flatly, and jumped when there was another knock.

She opened the door just a crack, and sighed when she saw Ryland’s almond-shaped eyes.  He peered back at her, and she realized he also had makeup on.

“Can I uh… borrow one of those?” he asked.  Erica opened the door the rest of the way, and he stepped into the bathroom.  Any of the bathrooms at Erica’s house were hardly enough to fit just one person.  Erica didn’t even feel cramped at all when he entered the space. Just a little warmer, she supposed.

She finished taking off her eye makeup, and started to undo her braids when she noticed him _staring_.  She looked back at him in the mirror, and she imagined him looking away, a pink blush flooding his face as he would struggle to stammer out an apology.  But he held her stare evenly, and didn’t let it waver. She only tore away to continue undoing her braids, and then tie back her hair into a ponytail.

“You looked nice tonight,” she heard him murmur under his breath.  She didn’t ask him to speak up, but nudged him with her elbow, and he laughed a little.  The air between them was still thick and quiet, but at least he was able to laugh it off.  She looked into the mirror, and took out the contacts that had been irritating her for the last hour.  She put her glasses back on, and blinked at how big her eyes were in them. She looked at Ryland, and realized that she didn’t have anything to change into for the night.  Neither did he, unless they both planned on sleeping in their costumes, which Erica knew Faith wouldn’t allow.

She patted him on the shoulder, and left to go ask Faith for some clothes.  She stopped short when he grabbed her hand. Her mind went numb, and for a split second it was all she had dreaded.  That space between them only got smaller and smaller, until she was mere inches from his face. His breath against her cheek brought her back to reality.  Erica looked him in the eye, and searched for what he was doing, as if his eyes would tell the truth, even while the rest of him lied. They stayed like that for a moment, faces inches apart, before she went to rest her hands on his shoulders, sighing when he didn’t pull away.  He put his hands just above her waist, and everything moved so _slow_ after that.  Her eyes didn’t dare flutter closed, like she might miss something.  It was a joke. He was bluffing. Of course he was bluffing, you idiot how could he--

The space between them was so minimal, their noses brushed together, even if it was briefly.  Her breath was short and hot, and she wondered if all he could think about was how weird this was, because they were friends, _best_ friends, and this isn’t what best friends _do_ .  She wouldn’t do this with Jules, and _he_ wouldn’t do this with Jules, so what on Earth are they doing?

She didn’t get a chance to speak, before her brain took over, and she pulled him closer, and even if it was only a centimeter difference, it was everything, and she sighed against his mouth.  It was an awkward kiss, they just stood there, not quite sure what to do with their hands or their mouths, but he was smiling, and she was holding back a laugh. She pulled away, and they both started _laughing_ , and even if that would hurt normally, Erica couldn’t think about it any longer.

She nudged his shoulder, and he didn’t move for a second.  Erica stepped forward, worried that she’d hurt him, when he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.  Not startled in the slightest, she pulled him closer and squeezed.

“You’re my best friend,” she whispered.

He nodded.  “You’re so much more than that.”

With that, they parted, and Erica went to find Faith, and for the first time in their friendship, she might have _actually_ had something interesting to tell her about.


End file.
